Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 514.  Receipts, correspondence, bills of lading ledger, 1870-1874, and account book, 1864-1866, for Miller’s jewelry businesses in Alton, Illinois and Paducah, Kentucky.  Miller later operated a jewelry store in Cairo, Illinois

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Western Kentucky UniversityTopSCHOLAR®MSS Finding Aids Manuscripts9-24-2014Miller, John A., Sr., 1840-1905 (MSS 514)Manuscripts & Folklife ArchivesWestern Kentucky University, mssfa@wku.eduFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/dlsc_mss_fin_aidPart of the Accounting Commons, Business Administration, Management, and OperationsCommons, and the United States History CommonsThis Finding Aid is brought to you for free and open access by TopSCHOLAR®. It has been accepted for inclusion in MSS Finding Aids by anauthorized administrator of TopSCHOLAR®. For more information, please contact connie.foster@wku.edu.Recommended CitationFolklife Archives, Manuscripts &, "Miller, John A., Sr., 1840-1905 (MSS 514)" (2014). MSS Finding Aids. Paper 3611.http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/dlsc_mss_fin_aid/36111  MSS 514 Manuscripts & Folklife Archives – Library Special Collections – Western Kentucky University  Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Department of Library Special Collections Western Kentucky University Bowling Green, KY 42101-1092  Descriptive Inventory  MSS 514  MILLER, John A., Sr., 1840-1905  2 boxes.  14 folders.  1,048 items.  1850-1877.  Photocopies.  SC2014.3.80   BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE  John A. Miller, Sr. was born in 1840 in Coblentz, Germany, but he immigrated to the United States with his family in the 1850s.  They settled in St. Louis, Missouri, where he learned the jeweler trade.  By 1859, he was operating a jewelry store in Alton, Illinois.  He married Kate L.F. Lohrum in 1863 in St. Louis and their first two children were born in Missouri.  He moved to Paducah, Kentucky by the late-1860s and operated a jewelry store there.  By 1881 Miller relocated to Cairo, Illinois, where he lived until his death in 1905.  In Cairo, his jewelry store was located at the corner of Commercial Avenue and Ninth Street.  He held several patents for jewelry-related tools. Miller was an active citizen in Cairo.  He was president for several years and always a vital member of the Merchant’s League.  His promotion of good roads led to his being elected as a county commissioner on the Republican ticket in 1899 and re-elected in 1902.  He was a member of the Knights of Pythias, holding the state’s highest office, Grand Chancellor of Illinois in 1894.  In addition, he was a member of the Germania Maennerchor and of the Ancient Order of United Workmen.  He was president of the Central Building and Loan Association and a director of the Cairo National Bank. Miller had one son, John A. Miller, Jr., and three daughters:  Minnie, Adele “Addie”, and Hattie.  Miller extolled the benefits of cremation, and his family carried out his wishes.   COLLECTION NOTE   This collection consists almost exclusively of photocopies of receipts related to John A. Miller’s jewelry shops in Alton, Illinois and Paducah, Kentucky.  These receipts are generally for jewelry-related items and are not necessarily from the two communities listed above, but there is a good representation from Paducah, Kentucky amongst the hundreds of items.  Occasionally folders will contain short pieces of correspondence (Box 1, Folder 9 and Box 2, Folder 1).  Box 2, Folder 2 contains 12 items of correspondence and fragments of correspondence written in German and English.  Box 2, Folder 4 includes a photocopy of a Paducah bill of lading account book showing items sent by Miller via steamboat from 1870 to 1874.  Each form is dated, lists the goods shipped, the client’s name and city, charges, and the steamboat on which the items 2  MSS 514 Manuscripts & Folklife Archives – Library Special Collections – Western Kentucky University  were shipped.  Box 2, Folder 5 contains a day book listing items sold in Miller’s store from 1864 to 1866.   SHELF LIST  BOX 1 Miller, John A.     1850-1877  936 items  Folder 1 Inventory         1 item  Folder 2 Receipts      1850-1864  106 items  Folder 3 Receipts      1865-1867  110 items  Folder 4 Receipts      1868-1869  164 items  Folder 5 Receipts      1870-1871  163 items  Folder 6 Receipts      1872   100 items  Folder 7 Receipts      1873   61 items  Folder 8 Receipts      1874   98 items  Folder 9 Receipts, orders, correspondence  1875   133 items   BOX 2 Miller, John A.     1862-1877  112 items  Folder 1 Receipts and correspondence   1876-1877  70 items  Folder 2 Receipts      n.d.   28 items  Folder 3 Correspondence written in a foreign language 1862-1877  12 items  Folder 4 Copy of bill of lading book    1871-1874  1 item  Folder 5 Account book (photocopy) 2 July 1864 to 1864-1866  1 item   15 January 1866        3  MSS 514 Manuscripts & Folklife Archives – Library Special Collections – Western Kentucky University  BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD  MSS MILLER, John A., 1840-1905               1850-1877 514     Receipts, correspondence, bills of lading  ledger, 1870-1874, and account book, 1864-1866,  for Miller’s jewelry businesses in Alton, Illinois and  Paducah, Kentucky.  Miller later operated a jewelry store in Cairo, Illinois.   2 boxes.  14 folders.  1,048 items.  Photocopies.   2014.3.80       SUBJECT ANALYTICS  Account books – Jewelry store, 1864-1866       B2,F4-5 Businesses – Paducah – Relating to German language        B2,F3 Receipts – Paducah       B1,F2-9; B2,F1-2 Steamboats – Relating to       B2,F4           Sledge/Jeffrey   09/24//2014 

Miller, John A., Sr., 1840-1905 (MSS 514)

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Miller, John A., Sr., 1840-1905 (MSS 514)

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